Ultimate Adventure Bike

When you’ve done a few rides with a bloke, you’d think you’ve got them sussed. Me and the Darcinator, we’ve done more than a few Tours of Duty together, but with every trip, stuff still pops up out of left field that makes me think, ‘Well, I never knew that about ol’ Darcy.’ Like he has to have scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast. Has to. If I dare to suggest a fast Maccas brekky stop, the look of scorn he fires back cuts right through you. So there we were, way deep in the Flinders Ranges on this issue’s Triumph Tiger 1200 ride, when his phone standard pinging with BOM storm warnings and his mood and mindset changed instantly. The happy-go-lucky filmmaker who would spend ages delicately crafting and framing…

We know 2022 will go down in history as the year it rained more new adventure bike models than ever before, yet the elusive unicorn — that 500cc, light, agile, Swiss army knife of a bike — still hasn’t managed to hit the streets. There are whispers GasGas may have something on the horizon and there have even been a couple of spy pics that don’t look doctored. If you could tell, anyway? This year has seen a focus by motorcycle manufacturers on the mid-range, 700cc and above twins specced up with electronics. Let’s call this loose group of bikes the ‘fatties’ — they all weigh around 200 kilograms, and you need a fat wad of money to buy them as they hover in price from $20,000-plus all the way up…

HONDA TRANSALP RIDES AGAIN Everything old is new again. Thirty-five years after the original XL600V rolled off the production line, one of Honda’s most iconic ADV machines has been resurrected with the release of the 2023 XL750 Transalp. Unveiled at the recent EICMA Show in Italy, the new Transalp looks set to shake up the middleweight multi-cylinder ADV ranks. It’s powered by the same 755cc parallel twin-cylinder engine that was debuted in the new Honda CB750 Hornet road bike, and it pumps out a healthy 90.5hp at 9500rpm and 75Nm of torque at 7250rpm. Ride-by-wire throttle and five ride modes (Sport, Standard, Rain, Gravel and User) are on offer, plus there’s switchable ABS to the rear wheel. The motor is carried in a lightweight diamond steel frame that is mated with Showa suspension…

Riding adventure bikes can be a 50/50 split sometimes. When you’re breaking new ground and you reach an intersection, good times or bad times could be just a coin toss away. Heads we go left; tails we go right. This time I tossed the coin and came up trumps. A right turn it was and less than a kilometre later, the Darcinator and I crested a hill and … boom! A lush green adventureland stretched out before us as far as the eye could see, with a thin chocolate line disappearing into the distance. “You’ve done it, Clubby!” Darcy boomed as he roared up beside me. “It’s just like riding in Mongolia — unreal!” Yeah, the editor at large was just a little excited, but justifiably so. We were outside the historic village…

Let’s not beat around the bush here: Aprilia’s new Tuareg 660 mid-size adventure bike is a good thing. A real good thing. If you’ve been loving your Ténéré 700 — and a zillion riders all the around the world sure have been — get yourself a ride on a Tuareg and prepare to be impressed. This bike just plain works, and works good. In fact, it was that good a bike to ride it actually blew me away. Because when you think of Aprilia, you don’t instantly think of adventure bikes, right? Sure, there’s been the Aprilia Caponord and the Aprilia Pegaso, plus the original Aprilia Tuareg thumper way, way back in the day, but none of them went anywhere close to entering the ranks of legendary ADV hardware. Honestly, they…

Since roaring into life four years ago in the High Country of Victoria, and then promptly having the handbrake pulled on courtesy of a certain global panademic, the Husky Trek has established itself as the premier off-road ride for devotees of the Husqvarna brand. Last year the Trek took place in the lush green hinterland of the Great Dividing Range on the NSW north coast and when Clubby returned home, he couldn’t stop raving about his experience. “Mate, the trails were just unbelievable and sections were hand-cut just for us,” he’d rant with a conviction that would make a nun blush. The imagery recorded by brilliant stills photographer Danny Wilkinson, and equally as brilliant videographer Jordan Bethune, confirmed the jaw-dropping experience. Highly capable bikes being ridden on a range of superb trails…